Tonsorial tension abounds as accountants tally the 319 ballots cast at Pedro's downtown.
By JON WILSON
Published October 31, 2004
ST. PETERSBURG - At 3:06 p.m. Friday, Clyde "Pedro" Holladay tore open the ballot receptacle, which was a Johnson and Murphy shoe box wrapped in sedate shades of red, white and blue.
At issue: the fifth barber poll, this one a monthlong straw presidential vote Holladay conducted among customers at Pedro's Tonsorial Parlor in downtown's Bank of America tower.
The winner, according to the barbershop balloting: George W. Bush, with 57 percent of 319 votes to John Kerry's 41 percent.
It was a fun exercise with a ceremonial touch.
Accountants Thomas C. Roberge and Brent S. McLean tallied. They picked through each hand-marked ballot one by one.
Buddy Culbreth, another accountant, backed them up. "The auditor for the accountants," said lawyer Bill Lane of Holland & Knight. He was on hand as a barber poll watcher.
Another was Mayor Rick Baker, who showed up about halfway through the counting.
"I want to see the chads!" he said, a reference to the hanging bits that were such an issue in the 2000 presidential race.
Holladay, a downtown fixture since 1977, hovered while absorbing jokes, answering questions and picking up the phone. It was clear he enjoyed the drama.
"He had to turn off the clippers today, he was so heated up," said Jeff Neustadt, a 13-year customer. Neustadt and his 14-year-old son, Gabe, came just to watch the show.
So did Richard Norenberg, a physician who sat in a barber chair and worked a crossword puzzle. The final count: Bush, 182. Kerry, 132. Reform Party candidate Ralph Nader picked up two votes. Sen. John McCain, a contender for the GOP nomination in 2000, got one. The Green Party got one. And so did Pedro himself.
"You going to call for a recount?" Roberge asked Holladay.
"There'll be no recount," answered Holladay.
Lighthearted chat suggested that the Tonsorial Parlor, situated in an upscale business center, might be a Republican stronghold.
"I think it's bipartisan," Lane allowed. After contemplating a moment, he added: "Based on the net worth of Pedro's customers, they ought to be all Republican."
It should be noted that the barber poll has picked the winner every time. The inaugural poll in 1990 foreshadowed the late Lawton Chiles' victory over Bob Martinez in the governor's race.
It predicted Jeb Bush to win the GOP gubernatorial primary in 1994, former Mayor David Fischer to capture the 1997 city election and George W. Bush to snag the presidency in 2000.
The 2000 poll also suggested that Bush would win in a landslide, but events proved dramatically different, as all know.
For those who like statistical comparisons, the 2000 poll had Bush winning 68 percent of 307 votes to Al Gore's 30 percent. The other 2 percent went to a collection of write-in candidates.
Holladay said this year's vote was cast by roughly the same customer base. A few Republicans, he speculated, must have gone against the grain.
